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midterm election

Watch the most insane ads of the 2018 midterms

Watch the most insane ads of the 2018 midterms

The 2018 midterm elections have brought a treasure trove of campaign ads. And in this super-charged political atmosphere, candidates have found even more creative — and idiotic — ways to get your attention, and your vote. The silliness, it turns out, is bipartisan.

"There is an inferno raging in Washington," intones former President Bush ethics chief Richard Painter, who's running to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate, as a literal dumpster fire burns over his left shoulder.

Ron DeSantis, Republican candidate for Florida governor, reads one of President Trump’s books to an infant on his lap, telling the baby his favorite part is when Trump says “You’re fired.”

A Democrat candidate for the House, Dan Helmer, brings us to the “Helmer Zone,” a "Top Gun" remake complete with overly dramatic motorcycle scenes and a sorry rendition of the Righteous Brothers' "You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling."

Of course, campaign ads aren't complete without swipes at opponents, and at Washington. Don Blankenship, Republican candidate for Senate in West Virginia, gave the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a couple of pet names: "Swamp Captain Mitch" and "Cocaine Mitch."

Then there's the “deportation bus” that GOP candidate for Georgia governor Michael Williams said he was gonna fill with "illegals to send them back to where they came from.”

And lastly, Levi Tillemann, Colorado Democrat candidate for the House, who had something that looked like mace sprayed into his eyes and dunked his head into a bucket of some blue foaming chemical that was “incredibly painful.”